Arkansas Blog

Huckabee rises to Duggars' defense with Megyn Kelly

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee went on Megyn Kelly's Fox News show last night to defend the Duggar family. In the process, he joined her in misstating facts about the case and claimed the media had been exploiting girls in the Duggar family, even though the Duggars themselves produced daughters for interviews on Kelly's show.

Multiple lawyers and public officials have explained completely and explicitly how release of a release report about multiple molestations in the Duggar family home complied with the law and did not reveal identities of people involved in the report. Yet Huckabee called the release "illegal, unlawful."

He also said he was “stunned and shocked” that the girls were “exploited in this by the media for their own purposes.”

None was identified until Josh Duggar himself publicly issued a statement identifying himself and, by implication, some of his sisters. Two sisters who'd been fondled by their brother subsequently appeared on Kelly's show and identified themselves as being involved.

Huckabee rose to instant defense of the family after the news broke. The Duggar family endorsement of him has been removed since from his website though Huckabee said recently it will return. At this point, he has no choice politically but to stick with his defense.

Huckabee was tapped by the film's producers, including Vertitas Entertainment, to get people to see a movie about a son of a fallen U.S. soldier. The script had him promoting the film by pitching it as anti-Hollywood. "Do you agree that traditional American values are under attack in mainstream media and by our government?" asked Huckabee. "Would you, like me, Mike Huckabee, like to see Hollywood respect and promote traditional American values?"

After the calls happened, St. Louis residents Ron Golan and Dorit Golan filed a proposed $5 million class action on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated alleging the calls violated the Telephone Communication Protection Act and Missouri's Do Not Call Law.

The defendants argued the calls were just a test of people's values. The 8th Circuit said the calls were marketing for the movie. The 8th Circuit left for a lower court to decide whether Huckabee himself could also be held liable.

ALSO: Duggar defenders, led by former Springdale City Council member Ray Dotson, are continuing to try to make something of the release of the police record, though authority after legal authority has said Juvenile Judge Stacey Zimmerman had no legal ground to order destruction of the police record. That order makes it impossible for the Civil Service Commission to review the matter, even if it was in its purview, which it doesn't appear to be. Nice ironic touch in a Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette story: It was precisely the way in which Zimmerman chose to justify her improper order in the case that identified one of the Duggar children as being among the molestation victims. Zimmerman, as I've noted, has a checkered record and rose to office in part through her connections to Mike Huckabee, a Duggar defender. Complaints have been made to the state disciplinary body about her ex parte conduct in this case. Zimmerman, by the way, has issued three separate orders in the case. How do I know? Dotson presented them to the Civil Service Commission. How did he get orders in a supposed secret case? Good question. But, another touch of irony: The orders Zimmerman issued in this case at various times disclose that a family in need of services case was opened related to the Duggars in this matter. So the judge and whoever else participated in this records release has managed to further add to the public record with information about a supposedly secret case pertaining to molestation in the Duggar home. Dont forget: Blame the media. Not Zimmerman. Not the Duggars. Not their allies.